This application claims the benefit of the Taiwanese application 89122381 filed Oct. 24, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a non-compressed, preformed shape headrest, particularly useful for shaping infants"" heads during skull formation. The headrest is adapted to be adjustable in size as the head grows.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oriental newborn babies usually sleep lying face up. As a result, in the process of skull formation, they tend to suffer more flat head on the back of the skull than babies from the West who usually assume a prone sleeping position. FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show different sleeping positions with a vertical view. F shows the face on the front side of the baby who sleeps on the pillow 5. FIG. 1A shows a normal skull shape of a newborn baby while FIG. 1B illustrates the head shape of a baby sleeping on his back. FIG. 1C shows the head shape of baby lying on the side or tummy while FIG. 1D illustrates a side effect of assuming a single-sided sleeping position, namely an asymmetric skull shape.
Generally, the skull of a baby in the mother""s body is rather supple in order to pass through the birth canal. After the baby is born, his skull forms more solidly for the brain""s protection. The formation of the infant""s skull shape is largely determined in the first couple of months after birth. This means that adjustment of skull shape is preferably taken shortly after the baby is born. The inventor mentions the development of face shape of a torticollis infant after a long-term investigation in his published xe2x80x9cTorticollis: a long term follow up studyxe2x80x9d at Acta Paed Sin. volume 37(3), P.173-177 in 1996. The findings of this study show that the skull shape formation occurs substantially in the couple of months immediately following the baby""s birth. Therefore, skull deformity can be largely avoided if preventions are taken early during the period of skull formation. The situation of a premature infant is typically even worse. Some past studies have made use of a water pillow to release the point pressure from weight on skull formation without substantive effect.
Currently, in the street stalls, the principle for the infant-specific pillow is the same as that for adults, i.e. a pillow made of cotton material, polymer, or synthetic fiber with a cloth covered outside. Unfortunately, the infant head still suffers from the weight of around 0.5 kg to 1 kg under the structure, making his head flat, and pillows of this kind cannot adequately relieve the point pressure from the baby""s head weight. Furthermore, some pillows are produced in a donut-like shape, in which only a piece of cloth is stuffed inside an outer soft-and-tender cover. These have been proven to not work well at all in the period of skull formation.
The previously mentioned, investigation has revealed that in the 4 months before and after the baby is born, the head of the baby can become deformed gradually due to bad sleeping positions. It is also suggested that 4.8% of the infants have abnormal skull shapes when they are born and 16-23% of infant skull shapes show asymmetric changes after 2-4 months. Especially with the increase of their age, the skull forms more solidly and the change becomes more fixed and it will not have any apparent change persisting into adulthood. Of interest is that the change of skull shape is always coincident with the development of facial appearance. Please refer to FIG. 2, which provides a vertical view of an infant skull; the arc line 10 represents the vertical view of a deformed skull; point A and Axe2x80x2 show the position of the left and right ears, separately; the upper part of arcs of point A and Axe2x80x2 show the face shape; the oblique line B shows the bulge area of the face as differs from a normal, symmetric one; the oblique line C shows the indented face a compared to that of the normal with symmetry. These prove that a change of skull shape is quite relevant to the face development. Once an asymmetry is formed, it becomes difficult to adjust afterwards. Therefore, keeping a symmetric and round skull shape contributes greatly to the beauty of outside, facial appearance in the future.
FIG. 3A illustrates the result of deformed skull measurement. Axis Y shows the degree of mean assessed skull asymmetry, wherein the definition of the asymmetric degreexe2x80x94level 1 to 4xe2x80x94stands for the normal, the slightly deformed, the moderately deformed, and the seriously deformed respectively. From the Figures, one can observe that with the growth of the infant, the deformity degree of his skull shape can become more and more asymmetric. FIG. 3B illustrates the result of deformed skull measurement, revealing the influence of skull changes on facial development, among which the degree of the influence becomes greater than the slightly deformed after 3 months.
FIG. 4 reflects the severity index average of normal babies by plaster mould records, in which 0-30 means normal, 30-60 the slightly deformed, 60-90 the moderately deformed, and 90 and above mean seriously deformed. It proves that even a normal infant can experience the phenomenon of deformity. The inventor""s study shows that the percentage of babies developing asymmetric skulls is about 10% in otherwise normal skull babies. It is believed that, because the sleeping position of most Oriental babies is lying face up, the contacting pressure is not focused on the center of head, and tiny deviations will cause the asymmetry of skull development.
The flat shape does not apparently influence the development of intelligence but does influence the eventual shape of the face. As far as the inventor can see, a headrest device able to relieve such a problem is still not available in commercial markets. Furthermore, if a baby has torticollis, then it is required to provide a device to prevent the deformity. It becomes an essential issue to design a pillow based on the principle of human engineering, by which the head of both premature and newborn babies could acquire a relief from excessive point pressure.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a non-compressed headrest to aid skull formation of newborn babies and those under 1 year old, by which the outside appearance of their face and head is maintained, as the skull deformity can be adjusted.
This invention is also about a device used to hold the head and neck of a baby in order to maintain the original skull shape while he is sleeping with his face up. The device includes a base, the shape of which is concave for holding the head and designed accordingly by the measurement of the average of different baby head shape of normal newborn babies. Moreover, a depressed segment below the base is used to support the infant""s neck. This device can be used to adjust the abnormal skull shapes caused by torticollis or other reasons. Additionally, the concave base and the depressed segment are flexible and won""t bend or deform during holding the baby""s head. The Shore A hardness of the device is in between 0 to 40, and the device can be made of materials including silicon, polyurethane, plant fiber, artificial fats, polyethylene, polystyrene, polymer, foamed rubber, and plastics and so on. The compression ratio while holding baby head and neck is preferably  less than 25%. The compression ratio is calculated by (Mxe2x88x92N)/M, where M is the height of the device and N is the height when the device is in use.
In another practical instance, the base for the head of premature infants includes a concave area with a descending circumference around it, which is used for holding the baby""s neck and shoulder. The base not only provides premature infants with soft-and-tender support for the formation of ideal skull shape, but also helps breathing. As a result, by using the device, the formation of the ideal skull shape and a better breathing position can be achieved.
The improvement of this head holder includes three major parts including a base, a supplement, and a direct contact piece, among which the base is manufactured according to the ideal skull shape and the size can be larger than the actual size of the user""s head. As for the supplement, it is designed as a smaller non-compressed sheet, covering the base, on which the smaller size of newborn baby can use as well. Moreover, it can continue to be used, even after the baby grows, by only changing or removing the supplement.